Author:

Shane Rhyne

Power Systems introduces SpaceStation system

Posted by Shane Rhyne – February 23, 2012

Power Systems' Frontier SpaceStation for outdoor useKnoxville, Tenn. – For many kids growing up, playing on the playground was the highlight of the school day.  Now, Power Systems is giving gyms and fitness clubs the opportunity to provide their members this childhood experience all over again, by introducing a new product to “play” on.  Although the SpaceStation™ may look similar to the neighborhood jungle gym, it is a powerful training tool designed to produce maximum results with every workout.

The SpaceStation™ is designed for single or multiple users to perform body weight and suspended exercises in a safe, creative and functional manner all in one place.  It can easily be set up in spaces that are not currently being utilized and allows for up to 20 people to work out at the same time.

There are two different SpaceStation™ models, allowing the flexibility of placing the system indoors or outdoors.  The Summit model is designed specifically for indoor use, while the Frontier model may be set up outdoors.  Both models offer the same function, and are designed to house multiple training stations.

“We wanted to offer a versatile product that would be fun and challenging, but also give gyms and clubs the opportunity to maximize space without disrupting their current floor plan,” said Monty Kilburn, Vice President of Marketing & Sales. “It provides users of all ages and levels of strength the opportunity to get out of a stagnant daily routine. The SpaceStation™ includes training stations for pull-ups, push-ups, suspended exercises, monkey bars, Power Training Rope anchor points and many others.  Each model is available in three different variations, affording customization for the space and functional needs required. workout routine and vary their workouts each day on one piece of equipment.”

“We love that users feel reenergized when using the SpaceStation™, and are getting the opportunity to be kids again while getting in a great workout,” added Kilburn.

Power Systems' Summit SpaceStation for indoor use

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About Power Systems: Power Systems is the  fitness and sports accessory equipment industry leader committed to making a real difference in the health, fitness and performance needs of people at every level of experience. Since its founding in 1986, Power Systems  has been recognized  for its standards in customer service, product selection and on-time delivery. The company is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. For additional information about Power Systems, visit their website at www.power-systems.com.

Media Contact:
Jeff Hooper
(865) 584-0550
jhooper@ackermannpr.com

Titanic Museum Attractions hosting U.S. tributes to Titanic crew and passengers

Posted by Shane Rhyne – February 15, 2012

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. and BRANSON, Mo. – Titanic Museum Attractions is hosting “A Night to Remember: An Original Musical Tribute to Titanic,” on Saturday, April 14, the 100th anniversary of the night the ship struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Musical performances, historic ceremonies and appearances by actual descendants of Titanic’s passengers and crew will highlight the production honoring the 2,208 people aboard the ship. The musical tribute will begin at noon (Central) on April 14 at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Missouri, and at 8:30 p.m. (Eastern) the same day at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Tickets for the unique historical tribute are available beginning Monday, February 20, by calling 800-381-7670.

“There will be ceremonies across the globe to commemorate the Titanic centennial on April 14, but the only place in the United States where guests can attend a formal tribute is at one of the Titanic Museum Attractions,” said John Joslyn, co-owner of Titanic Museum Attractions and co-leader of the first private expedition to visit the ship’s final resting place on the ocean floor.

The Titanic Museum Attractions – the home base for the U.S. RMS Titanic 100 Year Anniversary Commemoration

“A Night to Remember” will use choirs, orchestras and musical theater performances to bring the stories and drama of that fateful night to life for those attending the one-time only tribute.

“From folk ballads to modern pop, people have always used music as a way to commemorate historic events,” said Joslyn. “Titanic was memorialized in song before and after her sinking, so a tribute centered on music seemed an appropriate way to pay our respects.”

Adding to the historic occasion, descendants of people aboard the Titanic’s maiden voyage will also be present at the American tributes. The ceremony will conclude with a symbolic reenactment of the launching of Titanic’s distress flares and the lighting of a memorial flame at the bow of the ship to honor the 2,208 people aboard Titanic.

“The anniversary will be commemorated around the world in television, film, and print,” said Josyln. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for people to be more than passive witnesses to the anniversary. ‘A Night to Remember’ gives the audience a chance to actually be a part of the historic event and part of the community dedicated to preserving Titanic’s legacy.”

Tickets to “A Night to Remember: An Original Musical Tribute to Titanic” are available through the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee. Visitors may purchase tickets by phone at (800) 381-7670 beginning February 20, 2012. In addition to museum admission and the musical production, ticket holders will receive limited edition memorials dedicated to the ship’s history, including a DVD containing video tributes of the personal stories of selected passengers and crew.

The Titanic Museum Attractions are located in Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Together, the two museums represent the largest permanent monuments in the world dedicated to the memory of Titanic. The museums, immediately recognizable for their ship-shape design, are home to hundreds of artifacts from the ship and its survivors. “Passengers” experience what it was like to walk the hallways, parlors, cabins and Grand Staircase of the Titanic while surrounded by artifacts and exhibits that tell the story of the ship’s history and fate.

Since its opening in 2006, Titanic Branson has welcomed more than 5 million “passengers” aboard the museum. Titanic Pigeon Forge opened in 2010 and has already welcomed 2 million visitors. For additional information about the museums, visit www.titanicattraction.com

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Editors:  For more information, for additional high-res photos, or to schedule interviews or visits to the museums, please contact Rick Laney at (865) 584-0550 or (865) 441-2388.

Planned Harmony Family Center earns media spotlight

Posted by Shane Rhyne – January 16, 2012

Welcome to Montvale sign at camp entranceThanks to generous help from volunteers and donors, Harmony Adoptions is making exciting progress towards revitalizing historic Camp Montvale in Blount County. When work is completed the camp will become the Harmony Family Center at Montvale, a counseling resource for families with newly adopted children.

Work on the camp has generated media interest, including a front page article by the Knoxville News Sentinel about significant new donations and volunteer achievements.

Pam Wolf, CEO of Harmony Adoptions, says that volunteers have donated 3,500 hours at the camp since May 2011 doing construction, cutting grass, taking trees down, cleaning and reclaiming land. In addition, two notable local foundations have contributed a combined $150,000 towards the development of programming and counseling services for the camp.

Please visit the Knoxville News Sentinel site for the full story: “Donors, volunteers transforming old Camp Montvale into Harmony Family Center.”

Ackermann PR generates media for client new product launch

Posted by Shane Rhyne – December 15, 2011

Knoxville, Tenn. – When the investment firm BPV Family of Funds needed to generate media interest in a pair of new mutual funds to be managed in Knoxville, they turned to the expertise of Ackermann PR.

Some samples of the coverage related to the announcement include:

As Ackermann PR enters its 30th year of providing full-service public relations, marketing and communications services, we continue to enjoy the opportunity to put our clients in the spotlight.

Cellular Sales now has 450 stores in 23 states, opens 15 new stores in September

Posted by Shane Rhyne – October 7, 2011

Cellular Sales logoKNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Cellular Sales continued expanding its role as the nation’s largest Verizon Wireless premium retailer with the addition of 15 new stores in nine states in September 2011. September also marked the opening of the company’s 450th store nationwide.

The new stores were spread across nine states from New England to the Midwest and Gulf Coast. With the September opening of the company’s first stores in Massachusetts, Cellular Sales now has retail locations open in 23 states.

The new Cellular Sales stores included three each in Florida and Texas, two each in Alabama and Massachusetts, and one each in Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio.

Cellular Sales is an 18-year-old privately held company founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. For the past four years, Inc. Magazine has named Cellular Sales one of the nation’s fastest growing retail companies in the country. The 2011 edition of the Inc. 5000 ranked Cellular Sales as the 69th fastest growing retailer in the country.

Cellular Sales projects a growth rate of 30 to 35% for 2011 and has opened 90 new stores through September. The company is on pace to surpass the total of 102 new stores opened in 2010 and expects to open its 500th store in early 2012.

For more information about the new Cellular Sales stores, visit www.CellularSales.com. For more information on joining the company, visit www.JoinCellularSales.com.

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Media Contact
Shane Rhyne
(865) 584-0550
srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Cellular Sales continues nationwide growth, expands into Massachusetts and Rhode Island markets

Posted by Shane Rhyne – October 6, 2011

Knoxville, TN – Cellular Sales, the nation’s largest Verizon Wireless premium retailer, is expanding its retailInterior of a Cellular Sales store footprint in New England with a new management agreement to operate a cellular phone store in Fall River, Massachusetts. Cellular Sales assumed management of Cell in a Box, a wireless retailer located at 465 William S. Canning Boulevard in Fall River, as of September 24.

“Cellular Sales is expecting a 30 to 35 percent company growth in 2011,” said Brett Haven, Cellular Sales Regional Director. “We aggressively pursue the best locations available, and the new Fall River store is a prime example of that effort.”

The Fall River location marks the debut of Cellular Sales in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island market area and is the third New England retail location opened by the company this year. The company now has stores located in 23 states across the country.

Cellular Sales logoCellular Sales is an 18-year-old privately held company founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. For the past four years, Inc. Magazine has named Cellular Sales one of the nation’s fastest-growing privately-owned retailers. In 2011, the company was ranked among the nation’s 75 fastest growing retailers among the Inc. 5000 and had almost $500 million dollars in revenue in 2010.

“Our ultimate goal is to achieve the best wireless customer experience in the industry. This excellent experience is the product of intense sales representative training and a special emphasis on making and keeping our customers happy,” said Dane Scism, founder and CEO of Cellular Sales. “We look forward to introducing both Massachusetts and Rhode Island wireless customers to our customer service philosophy in Fall River.”

For more information about Cellular Sales in Fall River, call the store at (603) 964-4426, or Cellular Sales Regional Directors Brett Haven at (502) 644-9144 or Anthony Mills at (865) 414-2443. Job seekers may contact John Stevens, Cellular Sales Recruiting Coordinator at (603) 759-9891 or submit their resume by visiting www.JoinCellularSales.com. For more information on the company, visit www.cellularsales.com.

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Media Contact
Shane Rhyne
(865) 584-0550
srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Verizon Wireless DROID BIONIC available at Cellular Sales

Posted by Shane Rhyne – September 16, 2011

Cellular Sales logo

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – When Verizon Wireless and Motorola Mobility Inc. introduced the DROID BIONIC™ this month exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers, they were not debuting just any new smartphone. The groundbreaking new phone is setting the standard for speed, design and multi-feature functions among power smartphone users.

DROID BIONIC is the first Verizon Wireless smartphone to combine 4G LTE with the power of dual-core 1 GHz processors, 1 GB of RAM and a stunning 4.3-inch qHD display—all in a sleek form factor that makes it the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone from Verizon Wireless. Customers can expect to fly across the Web on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mpbs in 4G LTE mobile broadband coverage areas.

DROID BIONIC introduces a host of groundbreaking applications and accessories that turn the device into a multimedia hub, a ruler of remote access and a purveyor of virtuality. DROID BIONIC introduces ZumoCast™ by Motorola, an application that lets customers bring their digital world of videos, music, pictures and documents stored on their computers to their handset via remote access. With its revolutionary Webtop application, DROID BIONIC can beam a full-featured Firefox® Web browser 4.0, email or documents to a TV or monitor, like the separately purchased Lapdock™ with an 11.6” screen, keyboard and integrated trackpad.

Accessories such as the HD Station let DROID BIONIC users turn the phone into an entertainment center or home office. Customers can view pictures, video and content from the DROID BIONIC or any HDTV or monitor by connecting a separately sold HDMI cable. They can also take a conference call while editing documents and surfing the Web. And, of course, the DROID BIONIC lets customers share their 4G LTE signal with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices when they activate the Verizon Wireless Mobile Hotspot.

Cellular Sales is the nation’s largest Verizon premium wireless retailer with almost 450 retail locations nationwide. Cellular Sales provides customers with access to the newest Verizon wireless technology including Android-powered phones, Apple iPhones, tablets, feature phones, wireless access devices and more.

Cellular Sales is an 18-year-old privately held company founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. For the past four years, Inc. Magazine has named Cellular Sales one of the nation’s fastest-growing privately-owned retailers. In 2011, the company was ranked among the nation’s 75 fastest growing retailers among the Inc. 5000. For more information about Cellular Sales, visit www.CellularSales.com.

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Media Contact:

Shane Rhyne
Ackermann PR
(865) 584-0550
srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Scoop’d Celebrates Grand Opening with Fundraiser and Free Ice Cream Giveaway

Posted by Shane Rhyne – September 14, 2011

Knoxville, Tennessee – September 14, 2011 – Scoop’d, a locally-owned independent ice cream parlor, is celebrating its grand opening this weekend with a scoops of ice cream-inspired fun, including a chance to win free ice cream for a year. Scoop’d will also be raising money for the “We Back Pat” general fund in support of Alzheimer’s Tennessee, Inc. The festivities begin with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 15, at the ice cream parlor at 11519 Parkside Drive.

Scoop’d is the brainchild of Greg and Crystal Stinson and is an independently owned modern-twist on the old-fashioned ice cream parlor. Ice cream in the shop is made in micro-batches in the store and includes an ever-changing rotation of traditional and exotic flavors. In addition to super-premium ice cream, the shop has also been introducing East Tennessee to the taste of traditional Hawaiian shave ices.

During the grand opening weekend, visitors to the ice cream parlor may register for a grand prize drawing of free ice cream for a year. The lucky winner will receive coupons good for a free ice cream purchase each week for 52 weeks. The winning name will be drawn at the conclusion of the grand opening weekend.

The grand opening weekend will also include an opportunity to help raise funds for Alzheimer’s Tennessee, Inc.’s “We Back Pat” research fund. Beginning on Thursday, September 15 and continuing through September 30, Scoop’d is donating all profits from the sales of its Orange Dream ice cream to the fund.

Other activities at the shop during the weekend will include a mystery flavor guessing contest and special discounts on purchases.

Scoop’d is open from noon to 9 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The ice cream parlor includes plush seats, a modern soda fountain bar, and a private party room available for hosting special events. In addition to ice cream and Hawaiian ice treats, the parlor also serves coffees, lattes and espressos.

For more information about Scoop’d, visit the ice cream parlor in Turkey Creek at 11519 Parkside Drive or online at www.scoopdicecream.com. Scoop’d fans can also keep up to date on news, polls about new flavors, discounts and more through the ice cream parlor’s social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

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Media: Photos are available upon request.  For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Shane Rhyne  at (865) 584-0550 or srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Cellular Sales continues fast-paced growth with fourteen new store openings in August

Posted by Shane Rhyne – September 1, 2011

Cellular Sales logoKNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Cellular Sales, a premium Verizon retailer, opened fourteen new stores nationwide in August, showing why the company was recently ranked by Inc. magazine as one of the 75 fastest-growing privately-owned retailers in the country. The new stores were spread across eight states from New York to Texas, and bring the mobile wireless retailer closer to a projected 450 stores nationwide by the end of the year.

Currently, Cellular Sales has more than 400 stores across the United States. Sales consultants for the company earn an average of more than $51,000 per year.

The new stores include three new stores in Kentucky and two each in Florida, Louisiana, New York and Texas. New stores were also opened in August in Georgia, Indiana and Mississippi.

Cellular Sales is an 18-year-old privately held company founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. For the past four years, Inc. Magazine has named Cellular Sales one of the nation’s fastest growing retail companies in the country. The 2011 edition of the Inc. 5000 ranked Cellular Sales as the 69th fastest growing retailer in the country.

For more information about the new Cellular Sales stores, visit www.CellularSales.com. For more information on joining the company, visit www.JoinCellularSales.com.

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Media: High resolution photos are available.  For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Sarah Malak at (865) 584-0550 or srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Media Contact
Shane Rhyne
(865) 584-0550
srhyne@ackermannpr.com

Cellular Sales ranked as one of nation’s 75 fastest-growing retailers

Posted by Shane Rhyne – August 26, 2011

Cellular Sales logoKNOXVILLE, Tenn. – At Cellular Sales the only thing faster than the company’s growth rate is the download speeds of the Verizon Wireless retailer’s popular smartphones. For the fourth consecutive year Cellular Sales has been ranked one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies on Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 5000 listing. Cellular Sales, founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, joins Spirit Airlines, television maker Vizio, Dunkin Donuts and GoDaddy.com among other prominent brands featured on this year’s list.

Cellular Sales was ranked as the nation’s 69th fastest growing retailer on the magazine’s exclusive rankings, up from 96th in 2010.

“People shopping for smartphones and other wireless services have plenty of retail options,” said Dane Scism, founder and CEO of Cellular Sales. “Our growth rate stands as evidence we are able to provide excellent customer service that brings people back to us regularly as dedicated fans of our culture of service.”

Cellular Sales was ranked No. 1,449 on Inc. magazine’s fifth annual overall list of the nation’s fastest growing 5,000 companies (up from No. 1,856 last year). Three-year growth for Cellular Sales was reported at 193 percent according to Inc. magazine, while the median growth rate for businesses on the list was 94 percent. The magazine also ranked Cellular Sales in the top 100 of all businesses based on growth in actual gross dollars.  The magazine reported that Cellular Sales’ 2007 revenue of $166.8 million grew to $488.5 million last year.

“We are honored to be included on the list for the fourth straight year,” said Scism. “We will use this honor as a Inc 5000 logochallenge to continue learning from our customers how to better serve their needs and to exceed their expectations so that we can make the list again in 2012.”

Cellular Sales, Verizon Wireless’ largest premium retailer, conducts ongoing customer satisfaction research that ties into sales training and education.  The company also expanded its customer service abilities by opening a national call center in Knoxville in 2010.

Cellular Sales is an 18-year old privately held company founded and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. The company currently operates throughout the United States. Cellular Sales celebrated the opening of its 400th store in the nation in 2011 and is on pace to end the year with greater than 450 Verizon wireless retail stores across the country.

For more information about Cellular Sales, or to find a Cellular Sales location near you, visit the company’s web site at www.cellularsales.com.  Read about the entire 2011 Inc. magazine “Inc. 5000” list at inc.com/5000.

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Media: For more information, or to speak to a Cellular Sales representative, contact Rick Laney at (865) 584-0550.